Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano + SatanCon + 100K More Homes

PHOENIX, AZ — It's been an interesting year in the Phoenix area, with COVID-19 and its impacts always in the news, a notable local as the face of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and people aghast at the Satanic Temple's plans to bring SatanCon 2022 to Scottsdale.

Read on to see some of our Phoenix-area Patch's most-read stories of 2021.

Interview With Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano

Sammy "The Bull" Gravano was the underboss of the Gambino Crime Family, the final step in a mafia career that saw him involved in three mob wars and play a role in 19 murders.

He was one of the most successful prosecution witnesses ever against the mob.

Gravano was was rewarded with a very slight prison term despite all the murders and other crimes but turned his back on freedom and the Witness Protection Program and returned to the criminal life, earning himself 17 more years in prison.

He was released in 2017 and is now doing a podcast from his home in Arizona.

SatanCon Coming to Scottsdale

The Satanic Temple's Satancon 2022, the organization's first religious convention, is coming to Scottsdale in February.

SatanCon is set to feature talks and presentations about the various campaigns The Satanic Temple is currently championing. These include efforts to protect the reproductive rights of its members, fighting against psychiatric abuse, protecting children from abuse in schools, promoting addiction recovery and building support for the temple's after-school club.

The temple chose Scottsdale as the home of its convention following a years-long legal battle, after Scottsdale refused to allow the Satanic Temple to give an invocation prior to a city council meeting in 2018. The temple lost its final appeal in the spring.

Project Expected To Bring 100K Homes To Phoenix

The Howard Hughes Corporation plans to create the "city of the future" after acquiring the Douglas Ranch project for $600 million in October.

Douglas Ranch, a new large-scale master planned community in Phoenix's West Valley, is projected to have 100,000 homes; 300,000 residents and 55 million square feet of commercial development.

Residential lot sales at Douglas Ranch are scheduled to begin in the first half of 2022.

'QAnon Shaman' Sentenced For Capitol Riot

"QAnon Shaman" Jacob Chansley was sentenced in November to 41 months in prison and three years of probation for his part in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Chansley, who is from Phoenix, donned a furry, horned viking hat and was shirtless, wearing body paint and carrying an American flag. He had a bullhorn in his hand, and is accused of shouting obscenities and threats of violence while inside the capitol building.

During the sentencing, Judge Royce Lamberth seemed to agree with prosecutors that Chansley had made himself the face of the riot, according to a CNN report, and took that into account when sentencing him.